Method of handling and preserving fish and the like



March 15 1927.

D. E. KNOWLTQN ET AL METHOD OF HANDLING AND FRESERVING FISH AND THE LIKEFiled Oct. 15, 1924 DANIEL E. xuowmon. or BUFFALO, AND EDWARD w.nomrenn, or ALDEN, new

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METHOD OF HANDLING AND PRESEBVING FISH AND THE LIKE.

Application filed October 13, 1924. Serial No. 748,271.

According to the .methods commonly employed at the present time, ofhandling small fish, such as herrings, ciscoes and the like andpreserving them by cold storage preparatory to smoking them, the fish,immediately after being caught, are cleaned, that is their entrails areremoved on the fishing boat. lVhen the boat arrives at the dock, thefish are removed from the tubs or other receptacles used on the boat andpacked in large shipping boxes with ice beneath, above and between thelayers of fish, and the boxes are shipped to the cold storage plant. Atthe cold storage plant the contents of the boxes are dumped into largetroughs containpans, each of a depth about equal to the height of thesingle layer of fish therein. These metal pans, each containing a layerof fish, are then placed in freezers to freeze the fish. After the fishare frozen, the pans are removed from the freezer and immersed in awater bath to warm the pans sufficiently to enable the fish, which arethen frozen together in solid cakes in the pans, to be dumped out of thepans. The frozen cakes of fish, which are of substantially thedimensions of the pans, are then stacked in the cold storage rooms wherethey are retained in the frozen condition unitil the fish are to beshipped to the smoke houses, when they are removed from the cold storagerooms and the frozen cakes packed in boxes for shipment to smoke houses,several of the frozen cakes of fish being packed in each shipping box.

This method necessitates repeated handling of the fish, which aside fromthe labor and time-entailed, results in more or less injury to the fish.The fish are broken or bruised and the scales dislodged inplaces in thefirst packing of the fish in the shipping boxes at the docks and by thelumps of me, which are frequentl as well aswhen dumping-the fish fromthe packing boxes into the washing troughs and from the freezer, and theWater in which the freezing pans are immersed for removing y quitelarge,'durlngtransitof the fish to the cold storage plant.

the frozen cakes of fish, and this great change in temperature heats theexposed surface portions of the fish so as to cause more or less of acooking or oxidizing action which produce an exudation of the oilfromitihie1 fish and a surface discoloration of the The purpose ofthisinvention is to reduce the tlme, labor and expense of handling andpreserv ng the fish, and prevent the bruismg or injuring anddiscoloration of the fish 1n the handling or preservation thereofpreparatory to the shipment of the fish to the smoke house or consumer;and also to reduce the expense of cold storage and shipment of the fishand ensure that they will be maintained in better condition and handledless.

According to our invention, the fish are packed 1n layers suitable forfreezing in shallow covered boxes or receptacles. These shallow boxes orreceptacles are preferably made of corrugated pac g board,

paper board or other light, inexpensive material having the requisitestiffness, and. are coated with paraffin or are otherwise treated torender the boxes waterproof. Preferably the boxes or receptacles aremade of about the same dimensions as the sheet metal freezing pansheretofore used, that is about 15"x 25"x 2", so that each box .isadapted to eontaina single layer of the fish arranged edgewise in thebox. The box is also preferably provided with a removable telescopingcover made of the same material as the body of the box and waterproofed.The boxes with the fish packed therein are placed in the freezer and thefish frozen in the boxes. -When placmg the filled boxes in the freezer,they are preferably turned over and laid on their tops on the freezingcoils. This permits the water to drain off of the wet fish andaccumulate in the inverted cover of the box, so that when it freezes,the ice will seal the joint surrounding the body of the box, between thesame and the cover, thus firmly securing the cover in place andproviding an air tight enclosure for the fish, which is a further aid tothe perfect preservation of the fish. After the fish are frozen, theboxes are removed from the freezer and are placed or stacked directly inthe cold storage room without removing the fish from theboxes, or in anywise handling on disturbing the fish, and the fish remain undisturbed inthe boxes throughout the cold storage period, after which, the boxeswith the frozen cakes of fish still therein are removed from the coldstorage room and are shipped to the smoke houses or consumers. The fishthus remain in the boxes from the time they are packed therein beforefreezing until they are removed at the smoke houses or by the consumers.Since the frozen cakes of fish are not removed from the boxes whenchanging the fish from the freezer to the cold storage room, as in theprevious method, this avoids the necessity of immersing the fish in thewater to remove them from the pans, with the consequent objectionableheating and handling of the frozen cakes of fish. Furthermore, thedescribed method prevents the injury to the fish consequent uponhandling and packin the exposed cakes of fish, and prevents bruising andbreaking the surface portions of the fish. The cakes, when handled asheretofore, without the protecting boxes, also frequently break inpieces, and this adds to the labor and trouble of packin the cakes, andalso results in fur-.

ther in ury to the fish. The boxes prevent the breaking ofthe cakes andalso prevent the bruising or breaking of the surface portions of thefish heretofore caused in placing the frozen cakes in and removing themfrom the cold storage room, and in the subsequent acking of "the fish inthe shipping boxes. gince the boxes described are inexpensive to make,they can be discarded after the delivery of the fish to the smokehouses.

The above description of this method relates more particularly tohandling or treatment of the fish from the time that they are receivedat the cold storage plant. Preferably, however, instead of packing thefish in the shallow paper board boxes after they arrive at the coldstorage plant, the fish are placed directly in the boxes in the firstinstance, on board the fishing boats,

immediately after they have been cleaned and washed. When the fish arethus acked in the boxes on board the fishing ats, the layers of fish inthe boxes are covered with finely crushed or pebble ice, and the fishare shipped in the boxes directly to the cold storage plant. When theyreach the cold storage plant, the shallow boxes containing the fish areplaced directl in the freezer without disturbing the fisli or removingthem from the boxes, the boxes being preferably inverted when laced inthe freezer to form the ice seals or the boxes, as before explained.From this point, the method is the same as before described. By packingthe fish in the first instance in the shallow boxes, in which theyremain throughout the freezing, cold storage treatment and shipment toand from the cold storage plant, there are eliminated the previouslyused steps of packing the fish with ice in large boxes at the docks forshipment to the cold storage plant, as well as the subsequent washingand packing of the fish in shallow freezing receptacles at the coldstorage plant.v

The closed boxes or receptacles, in addition to preventing injury to thefish, which resulted from the handling of the exposed frozen cakes, alsoprevents evaporation of the juices, and consequent loss in weight of theproduct. The cakes of fish in the shallow boxes can be handled morereadily than the bare cakes, and the boxes do not add objectionably tothe weight or bulk of the cakes. The fish in the shallow boxes can behandled and placed in the cars or other conveyances with much lesstrouble and expense than the larger wooden boxes in which it has beencustomary to pack or ship the frozen cakes, and the paper boxes saveweight and shipping expense as Well as reducing the initial expense ofthe wooden boxes.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a reduced plan View of a box or receptacle packed with fishaccording to the method embod ing this invention, the cover beingremoved? Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation thereof, on line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the'box inverted and showing the ice sealfor the joint between the box body and cover.

Fig. 4 is a reduced plan view, partly in section, of the filled andcovered box.

The box or receptacle comprises a body 10 which is preferably made ofcorrugated packing board or other light, stiff cardboard or ana agousinexpensive material, and has a bottom 11 and upright ends 12 and sides13 which are stapled or connected in any suitable manner at the cornersso as to provide strong, tight corner joints. The bod thus formed ispreferablysoaked in para fin or otherwise suitably treated to make itmoisture-proof. The cover 14 of the box is preferably made of the samematerial and formed and waterproofed in the same manner as the body,being of sufficiently larger size to slip or telescope over the uprightwalls of the body. 15, Fig. 3, indicates the ice seal between the edgesof the body and the cover of the box.

We claim as our invention:

1. The hereindescribed method of preserving comestibles such as fish,which consists in packing the comestibles in shallow receptacles,freezing the comestibles while in said receptacles to freeze thecomestibles into shallow cakes in the receptacles, and storing saidreceptacles with the frozen cakes still contained therein and leavingthe comestibles in said receptacles during. the

storage period, and maintaining the comestibles in the frozen conditionduring said storage period.

2. The hereindescribed method of handling and preserving comestiblessuch as fish, which consists in packing the comestibles at the. place oforigin with crushed ice in shallow receptacles, transporting thecomestibles in said receptacles to the place of cold storage, freezingthe comestibles while still remaining in said receptacles, and thenmaintaining the comestibles While still retained in said receptacles ata sufliciently low temperature to keep the comestibles in the frozenstate.

3. The hereindescribed method of preserving comestibles such asfish,which consistsin packing the comestibles in shallow covered boxes,inverting said boxes to permit water therein to settle and seal thejoint bet-ween the body and cover of the box, then reezing thecomestibles and Water while shallow box having a telescoping cover andin which there is sufficient water to form a seal between the body andcover of the box, inverting said box to permit the water therein tosettle into the joint between the body and cover of the box, subjectingthe box containing the fish while inverted to a low temperature tofreeze the fish and water in the box, and maintaining the box and thefish contained therein in cold storage to retain the fish in the frozenstate in the box until required for use.

DANIEL E. KNOWLTON. EDWVARD \V."DONNIGAN.

